At The Seams
Team Titan Think Tank Issue 29 "Occupied Territory Part Six- "At the seams." Front cover- the cover shows a swarm of the Blitzkrieg Droids, flying on their energy discs, as the Think Tank lie fallen at their feet on a rooftop. The issue opens with a Blitzkrieg firing an electrical swathtika beam from his chest. Cain shakes himself to awareness while his body continues to rebel against him, seeing little more than the massive energy glow. His vision blurrily cuts to the right to see Gunn prepare for the attack, but distracted as he is by the ape and the oncoming CTs, not fast enough. With a yell that turns into a rasp, Cain staggers a few paces to put himself directly in front of the blast, and though much of its energy seeps around past him, he glows with energy for a panel as Blitzkrieg's electricity ripples through the area. There is a panel of silence as Cain stands, looking up at Blitzkrieg, exhausted and smoking. His additional rebelling limbs slough off and turn to ash, and he quakes, falling to his knees. With a steely detemination he rises to one knee, but it is clearly agonising to do so. In the blurry background, a red glowing hand is outstretched towards Cain. "Ah, Cuthroat Cain. Or, not so Cutthroat nowadays, are ve?" The Mr Psychic-Blitzkrieg host steps close, stamping on and shattering the hyno-monocle for effect. "Let us remind me you what 'cut-throat' truly means." CUT Dungeon Master clenches his fists as he faces the resistance of his 'brother', Games Master. "No wait. This isn't a video game. You can't beat me with a boss... ZZTTTTTKKKATTTT.... this is mah... DUNGEON! And where there is dungeons, there's always..." Out of his hands flies a huge dragon projected in front of him that breathes a blast of purple fire at GM. His final word is a speech bubble that is blanked out by a THOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM sound effect. The panel shows the back of the dragon on the left hand side and a globe of energy with a humanoid shape in the centre facing the reader on the right hand side, as the Games Master absorbs the attack. The energy shape then grows taller and taller. A white armoured knight stands before the dragon brandishing an enlongated kite-shaped shield nearly as tall as itself. "Three -" He raises his kite shield. "Two-" His hand goes to the hilt of a construct sword. "One-" He draws the sword. "FIIIIIIGHT!" Games Master roars. "Hey, I were already FIGHTIN'!" Dungeon Master responds. CUT The comic cuts to Sonne as he sees Blitzy below, blasting Cain to his knees "GRANDDAD, Reset the -... Blast it!" Gunn curses. Gunn's retros flare with anger, as he dives from his perch. He snatches up the dropped hardware that Toni left, before flipping onto his back midair before punching two lines of Zero-Point Energy towards Cain, yanking the Dinosaur into his arms before engaging his full Zero-G thrust. Aiming to put cover between him and his agressors, he takes flight. "G-gunn..." Cain groans. "Hang on, Buddy!" Sonne sees the smoking Blitzkrieg Island ahead of them, and can see two forms flying in front of the smoking central tower; he then looks to right and above them, and can see the M of the Megaoex building Kaan'Qsst mentioned. He can see on a building below, a Blitzkrieg, holding Tonic and back where they came, where they left Tops in the crater, comes a mass of repeated gun and plasma fire. Glancing at his choices, Gunn swallows audibly before setting course for the Megaplex. He lands on the landing pad on the roof. Which is empty, except for the headless corpse of Wrench, and his head, a few feet away. "What-...?" It has been clearly sliced off by some kind of blade. "RooooooooooooRRRRRRRRRRRR!" Citizen Ape leaps onto the roof. He lands in front of Sonne, trying to block the way to the door into the building "I guess we're going in there, then." Sonne smiles to his charge, looking tired. Esc-Ape appears out of another portal, in front of Citizen Ape, which again, he steps aside to hold open. CUT Blitzkrieg stares at Redemption. "So, do you feel sufficiently idiotic now? Speaking of idiotic..." In the chamber with the holes Redemption has blasted, Chaos appears. "CHAOOOOOOSSSSSSSSSSS!" The inevitable green energy wave passes over, yet Redemption remains where he was. He looks at the energy, then looks to Blitzkireg. "You might need real back up," "Oh..." Blitzkrieg looks at the swarm of ten heat beams flying at them. "...Very well." As the ten beams converge into one massive beam, which hits Redemption. He raises a hand and slams his fist into it and lets loose a small burst of light, shattering the beam "Improvement, you vile automaton, but you can not extiniguish the light of hope!" CUT The three remaining Reichdroids after Sonne and Cain fly up above the Megaplex. "ACHTUNG!" they bellow. Sonne covers Cain with as much of his body as possible as the heat beams fly at them. One goes right for Cain but with Sonne's arm wrapped tight around him, it hits the arms of the suit, which the energy simmers harmlessly off of "Brillian." Gunn smirks. "Sonne, did you... rrgh. Is this the Megaplex?" "It is." "You know, I've been waiting so very long to say this..." he clears his throat, which turns to a genuine cough in his wounded state. "Megaplex override K-eight-one-two, active defense batteries... oh, why hold back. One through eighty eight. Target exception Cain, target exception Gunn." "... Um." "TARGET EXCEPTIONS ACKNOWLEDGED. APPROPRIATE TARGETS LOCKED. ACTIVATING DEFENCE GRIDS", the building drones out. Even Tonic, on a roof some way below, heres that "Now... if you'd indulge in a little *planning* a... *cough* moment, Sonne, I'd greatly appreciate it." Cain grins as the building drones on. "... Okay, sure." Two massive grids of yellow energy bars rise up out of the building, and partially cage the two apes, though half of their bodies are sticking through the bars. The energy grids emit around the building locking around one of the Reichroids which then falls to the street below and explodes. "I have something of a remedy for the whole blasted situation lined up, you see..." he rasps, trying to regain his own composure, "Unfortunately, it requires a little... outside influence. Now with GRANDDAD online there wouldn't be a problem, but, well... if you can't jury rig the facility's communicators to breach the planar barrier, I'm afraid I may have to look to... less wholesome allies within the city." CUT Blitzktrieg Island suddenly disappears "Oh dear my brother, zis one appears to doubt our ruthlessness" comes Molekulus' voice "Show him", says Blitzkrieg. "Kleiser. Vich Titan do you have?" "Dark Horse." "Put him close to the mic, and snap his neck, please, mein freund." "My pleasure." "AaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaARRRRRRRRGH!" comes over the speakers from the Island. Redemption's head hangs low. CUT On the roof of the Megaplex, the Citizen Titans and the black costumed man step out of the portal; the black costumed man fires another energy wave at Sonne and Cain. "Sure I can, I'd just need to- WATCH OUT!" Gunn staggers again, his body convulsing hard as he is wracked with the same energy he's reliant on for his mobility, his protection, his everything. Cain is similarly buffeted by energy as before, but does better holding his ground this time, straining to keep his form shifts under control this time and ending in his blue stegasaurus form as the energy pulses him through whole forms at once "ALERT ALERT, ENERGY FLUX D-XXXXXXXZTTTTTT...." says the base The building shakes, but the energy grids hold, and then the Citizen Titans charge out through the portal, two leaping at each hero. One leaps at Sonne, two feet first, but somesaults off of his chest plate, doing no harm, whilst the other punches Sonne in the helnm-forcefield, as the fist gets momentarily lodged, almost bursting through the field, as he is suddenly the supersoldier is repelled back. Cain is about to be attacked, but Sonne flies in the way, taking both punches, as a bit of steam shoot out from a puncture in the armour from one of the blows. And then Chaos appears on the roof. "Ah, you have a goal I see.... I'm afraid, friends, Blitzkrieg doesn't want you to have it." Green energy bursts out as the Chaos Energy engulfs them. "Starting to think we're not entirely welcome!" As the energy starts to play at Gunn's heels, he boosts over it with a flourish. "Hardly the homecoming I was hoping fo-" Cain says as the energy field approaches. Seeing Gunn jet off, Cain looks to his own wings, and skips back a step on seeing just how damaged they are. "Megaplex!" he blurts, "Target acquire, Cain!" The building's voice begins sounding out, but the sound is sucked away by the portal, but despite this a glowing gold energy field appears between Cain and the green energy. The bubble hits the field and distorts around it, passing around Cain and cancelling the defense grid, which he dismisses again with a hushed gasp. CUT ".....arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrRRRRRRRRGHH!" Dark Horse continues to resist having his neck snapped, as the comic cuts back to Redemption "I can feel their hope for freedom; you attempt to break me has only lead me to them!" He turns and flies quickly, hundreds of feet ahead through the air. He stops and fires a blast and hits something straight in front of him. There is an explosion in seeminly empty air, as the reader can see a hole, leading into the base, though the rest of it is cloaked as Redemption flies inside; claxons sound, laser turrets pop out of walls and ceilings. A multitude of lasers fly past Redemption, one strikes him and bounces off, as he comes to a control room area. It is a large circular control room with computer banks around it; in the centre of the room, in a large leather chair, sits Molekulus, surrounded by a circle of human-sized Reichdroids, with electricity glowing at their fingertips; in front of him by about ten feet is another set of consoles, where Kleiser stands, holding Dark Horse's head against a microphone, as he squeezes the man's neck. Kleiser is a hideous looking hulk of a man, his muscle having grown outside of much of his skin, including covering most of his face, like horrid scabs. Dark Horse is a black haired, hirsute stocky man, with hooves for feet; not far from him are the other members of Team Titan Black, power-shackled. Iron Jack and Damage Control have had their cybernetic implants removed, Katana has been removed from her armour, and she is small, pale, quivering, and the input sockets are visible along her bare arms. Le Qui, their final member, is not present. "Kleiser! He is here! Leave that one and deal with HIM!" Molekulus screams. "Your master failed to harm me, what hope do you have?" Redemption says, confidently. "Master? MASTER! He is no master, Blitzkrieg was... is... my brother." "And now your master", Redemption taunts. "Hahahaha. You think he controls -me-? On the contrary... I am here of my own free will. I just don't understand his urge to go back to the surface... here we can do as we wish... so many toys to play with..." "Toys..TOYS! Those are people down there, you fiend!" "Not anymore." CUT We cut to Tonic, still being held by a Blitzkrieg. "T..that's a f...first, calling a S...Stevens useless...especially g...given w...what you are d...doing with Graham..." "Stevens?" Blitzkrieg's eyes widen "D...Doctor Stevens." "I know who Stevens is. But you cannot Nullify me with your long lost relatives toys, little girl." "Oh t...those aren't his...t...they're m...mine." Cracks shoot out under Blitzkrieg's feet. "I know who made Surge and Nullifier. I have long looked for zese weapons myself. And now I have zem." More cracks appear in the roof. "Y...you h...have o...old v...versions. O...outd...dated." "Of little concern. With nanites, I can make my own army in my own image. I am dealing with you right now... and your friends. At. Ze. Same...." He leans in closer. The building shudders "...vat?" And then the roof collapses, as both Blitzkrieg and Tonic fall through it; he lets go of her and before she hits the next floor, she fires her remaining wrist-launcher, firing something resembling a taser, into his chest. "A-" Tonic phases through the floor and Blitzkrieg drops through it; the comic then shows the two, a few feet apart, falling and phasing through the buiulding respectively. As Blitzkrieg lands on his back at the bottom, covered in rubble. The floor wraps downwards, and springs her up, as Toni lands on the bottom floor and then runs through several walls, through the outer wall, through a barbed wire fence and across a car park as she comes to a building which above the boarded reception door says MEGAPLEX. Sweating heavily, clearly ehasuted, she runs through the wooden boarding and into the lobby of the Megaplex. She doubles over, hands on legs, panting heavily "I..."*pant*" hate...r...running..."*wheeze* "Just as well..." comes a voice behind her. She turns, to see a cloud of nanites forming into Blitzkrieg behind her. CUT Blitzkrieg materialises in front of Redemption in the same manner. "Because there is nowhere..." CUT He materialises in front of Sonne and Cain. "You can run..." CUT As Mister Tops paralysed form is shown, lots of smoking holes now in his suit, but no harm done to him, through Grease Monkey's green blob has now spread across most of his body. A morphoraptor turns into another Blitzkrieg and fires a beam at Tops. "... you fools." End of issue.